This technical solution involves fluid turbines in the shape of rolling fluid machines comprising a cylindrical or conical stator, in which a rotor of an axially symmetrical shape is seated on the shaft. The rotor touches a stator and can circulate around its internal wall.
Fluid turbines with the rolling principle are generally known, comprising a stator, usually in the shape of a confusor, while the rotor has an axially symmetrical shape, very often a hemisphere or a cone. For example based on Czech patent No. 284483 with the title Rolling Fluid Machine, and European patent No. EP1015760 B1 with the title Rolling Fluid Machine, a water turbine is known, comprising a fluid reservoir with an inlet and at least one outlet nozzle, with a rolling rotor of an axially symmetrical shape placed on a holding device near the outlet nozzle. This machine can operate as a water turbine, when the water flowing around the rotor deflects it towards the internal side of the outlet nozzle and starts rolling it in the outlet nozzle-stator. The solution of the rolling fluid motor in the design patented by Czech patent No. 7606 with the title Hydraulic Motor and European patent No. EP1082538 B1 with the title Hydraulic Motor can be used to produce energy. Likewise, the solution under Czech patent No. 294708 with the title Rolling Fluid Turbine shows a water motor of the rolling type, with hydraulic channels arranged in the places of mutual contact between the rotor and the stator; these channels also act as a geared transmission, preventing rotor slippage inside the stator.
The fundamental disadvantages of the turbines mentioned briefly above is that they have to be fitted with a transmission that transmits the turbine's mechanical output to a power generator. If they are not fitted with a transmission and the rotor and the stator of the rolling turbine constitute a carrying generator, power production has a low efficiency.
It is desirable to adjust the rolling turbine to improve the efficiency of its function, i.e. to make sure that the transformation of the obtained mechanical energy to power does not require any geared transmissions.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a rolling fluid turbine is provided comprising a stator, fitted with at least one inlet hole and at least one outlet hole, where a rolling rotor is arranged in the stator using a shaft and a clamping mechanism, the rotor comprising a body of a rotational shape in conformity with the invention, wherein a power generator is installed inside the rotor and the shaft, on whose one end the rotor is arranged, is seated with its other end fixed firmly in the clamp of the clamping mechanism. The clamping mechanism makes sure that the shaft can longitudinally deflect from its axis in all directions and perform a precessional movement, but cannot rotate around its longitudinal axis. The rolling rotor is arranged on the shaft in a freely rotating manner and constitutes a freely rotating couple with the shaft. Sealing against water penetration inside the rolling rotor is installed between the rolling rotor and the shaft.
The advantage of the solution as per the invention is that the power generator is rotated without any geared transmission in such a manner that the generator is lodged inside the rolling rotor so that the generator's stator is fixed to the rolling rotor and the generator's rotor is fixed to the rolling rotor's shaft, making it a freely rotating couple vs. the rolling rotor and the generator's stator. If a synchronous generator with coils arranged on the rotor is used, the permanent magnets are placed on the stator. The generated power is discharged through power conductors. These conductors are located inside a cavity in the shaft of the rolling rotor.
Advantageously the generator's stator is fixed to the rolling rotor and the shaft of the rolling rotor makes up one unit with the generator's rotor, while the generator's rotor and the rolling rotor constitute a freely rotating couple vs. the shaft with the generator's stator. The rolling rotor in this arrangement can contain an asynchronous generator and the power conductors are placed inside a cavity in the shaft.
Practice has confirmed that if the difference in the diameters of the rolling rotor and the stator is at least 1 cm, the water used can be polluted by soft biological materials with the size of several centimeters, such as residues of grass, leaves, clusters of algae etc. These residues do not affect the turbine's function and pass through it, leaving it in a partly crushed condition.
Presumably the use of the fluid turbine as specified in the invention for flow rates, of about 10 liters per second on heads of up to 15 meters will result in an increased use of these parameters for power generating purposes. Outputs can be expected to be similar as those achieved for the mentioned flow rates and heads by existing rolling turbines, equipped with power generators and employing miscellaneous transmission mechanisms. Depending on the specific installation parameters, their daily outputs are approximately 2-5 kWh of power. The utilization of the marginal flow rates and heads achieved by existing rolling turbines for power generation and ranging around the flow rate of 5 liters per second with the head of 3 meters will be achievable with the fluid turbine as specified in this invention as well. It has been demonstrated that this marginal potential energy has a practical meaning. For example if a 12V/120 W asynchronous generator is used, the mentioned head of 3 m and flow rate of 5 liters per second can be used to generate steadily at least 0.8 kWh of power daily, which is utilized, after the necessary alignment and accumulation, for ordinary household appliances thanks to a 230V, 50 Hz converter.
From an economic point of view, the industrial application of the presented solution consists of or comprises especially in specific forms of production and utilization of the generated power. Very small renewable sources of hydraulic energy can be very important in real economy because the frequency of water micro-sources is very high in certain regions. Their utilization is, however, still absolutely insufficient and inefficient. From the point of view of the presented solution, micro-sources also include all pumping equipment in industrial plants, public facilities, housing projects, where fluids are circulating. In case of a closed circuit of power handling, where the generated power is consumed in the place of its production, the technical solution as specified in this invention can yield major economic benefits. When the costs of maintenance of the equipment are deducted, the benefits will correspond with the saved payments for power supply from the public distribution network. The generated power is first accumulated, and later used as needed. It is not provided to other entities for any fee and is used exclusively for consumption in the place of its production. Its industrial applications include telemetric measurements of industrial systems, linked for example to safety, registration and failure conditions and other functions for applications where connection to the public distribution network is expensive and does not meet the functional needs. The micro-source can perform the function of a backup source for short-term needs and can be activated within a very short period of time.
The presented solution therefore seems to be usable industrially in the field of sustainable development and the determining economic and environmental context. As implied above, no fields of power generation can be excluded from sustainable development in advance. It is therefore necessary to count on the use of micro-properties of potential energy from renewable sources of water and other fluids. The fluid turbine as specified in this invention can become another tool for specific exploitation thanks to its simple design and economic efficiency of its operation as well as the return on investments.